A Beginning Before The End

My collegiate brain keeps me on semester time, so for me, the new year begins around the end of August/beginning of September, because that's when the academic year starts. Even our health insurance works that way; the deductibles refresh in July instead of January. Work has been pretty busy since the new year started. I did a lot with organizing the new student seminar the week before the semester began, and I have been coordinating the senior seminar for students every Friday. On the plus side, I am officially in my new office (delighted squeal) and I feel like I am in office heaven, although I do really miss having someone right there whom I could just lean over and talk to. I was thinking about what I was going to hang on the walls of my new office and I just didn't know what to do, and then one of my coworkers inspired me. He pretty much has his office plastered with Star Wars toys and collectibles, so I went right to work: I measured my Lord of the Rings posters and found frames for 2 of them and am having the 3rd one framed. They've just been rolled up in a tube for the past 4 years and I decided my new office would be the best place to display them. They make great conversation starters :)

 

Jared is two weeks into the Respiratory Therapy program and I think he is liking it a lot. He has had to buy a lot of things for the program (scrubs, stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, etc) which has been hard for us because we don't even know how we are going to pay for our daycare and rent right now, but I know we will be able to work things out. The other day, he had gotten out of bed quickly and hurt a muscle in his back, and then on Friday morning he woke up and his left leg was numb and he couldn't feel anything touching it half the time. Well, long story short, he got 5 xrays and an MRI (because when a doctor recommends you get one or lose function to your leg, I guess you don't tell them no), they called us after the MRI to tell us to get to the ER right away for emergency surgery, and so we get to the hospital and check in, and the doctor comes in and says it's not as bad as they thought and we can just go home and get some rest. So now, we have to pay a bill for an MRI, xrays and a trip to the ER when we really didn't need it. *sigh* Even though he doesn't have to have surgery, he does have a very large herniated disc in his back, that we are hoping, with time, will fix itself. "This life is a test, it is only a test..."

 

Last week we decided to take the kids and Jared's cousin to the fair. We had lots of fun eating yummy food and looking at things. We walked around for about 3 hours and, needless to say, my legs were ready to give out from under me when we got back to the car.

 

We had to find a place to sit so we could eat our yummy scones and honey butter. As Jordyn would say, "doo-lish-ush!"

 Uriah kept standing in front of Jordyn when I wanted to take a picture of her. Silly boy!

 Jordyn got all messy eating a chocolate strawberry. Jared's cousin told her to touch her forehead, so what does she do? Yeah, she got it all in her hair. Silly girl!

 I'll never get over the blue eyes all my kids keep getting!

 I walked the kids over to the shark show so they could see the sharks and see the guy swim with them, but this is what I found when we got there. Poor little guys were tuckered out!

The boys and their giant turkey legs!

We had a good time at the fair. It was nice to get out of the house and get some air. And I have decided that, when my guinea pigs go to heaven, I am going to get a floppy eared bunny!

 

 

 

 

 



Anniversary Present

I know I promised I would show pictures of what we got for our anniversary, so here you go!

It's a bed! We have had the same mattress, box spring and metal frame since we got married, and Ashley Furniture Home Store was having a great factory sale, so we bought this sleigh bed (we only bought the frame; we still have the mattress and box spring we've always had). The foot board has 2 drawers, but they are hard to see in this picture.

This is what it first looked like when it was delivered. We put the mattress AND the box spring on it. As you can see, it was way over Uriah's head. I just stood there and laughed and laughed and laughed, but we decided to try it. That only lasted about 3 days. It wasn't too hard to get into bed, but getting out I had to slide off the edge and, as sleep as I am in the morning, it was difficult for me to keep steady. So I went to the Uhaul store and bought a protective bag to put the box spring in and that is now out in the garage. 

Here are a few closer pictures of the headboard. Uriah or Jordyn (not sure which) was taking pictures of me on the bed, and while I was talking on the phone. My little ones are obsessed with my camera. 

I have been wanting a bed like this since we got married, but it just kept getting pushed to the back burner. Hooray for anniversary surprises!

The House That Built Me

This last weekend a good friend of mine from my childhood got married and invited me to her wedding. When she told me that she was going to get married on her grandfather's farm, I knew that I would have stop at another place while I was there. Her grandfather's farm was about 1/4 mile from my grandparent's house and where I grew up. I have a lot of great memories from playing with her at her family's farm.

 Since my parents moved up here close to us, I haven't driven home to see the house I grew up in for quite a few years. I think about it all the time. I love where I grew up. It was out in the country away from the city. My grandparents were right across the road. We had a HUGE yard and endless possibilities for play, and we would flood the lawn with canal water and play in it and have friends over. When I needed a place to go to be alone, all I needed to do was walk around the yard and it was always so peaceful. Someday, when school is over and we start really living, I want to live in an area like this.

As I was  driving to the wedding, I turned onto 125 W. and started heading towards my house. My heart even started pounding a little bit harder. I was seeing neighbors houses that I remembered, and even some new houses had cropped up here and there in what used to be fields. With every foot of road I got a little more excited...and then I saw what was the house I grew up in. The building itself looked the same, but the yard and surrounding trees were overgrown and not taken care of. Growing up, we always made sure the lawn was well kept and the trees were pruned, as well as the weeds. Whoever lives there now has done no such thing. There were also a few dump vehicles sitting out on the lawn, and what looked like a big train car sitting in front of the storage shed we had behind the house. The longer I sat and looked, the more my heart sank. The beautiful picture of my home I had in my mind when I was driving was being erased by the reality. I knew, in my heart, I would not be able to come back, at least not for a long time. Not if I knew it was going to look like this. The only good thing I could see about it was that whoever lives there is working on connecting the house and the storage shed together into one structure. This is something that was always my dad's dream to do. He even had the blue prints for making it all happen, but he set his dream aside for more important things.

This is a picture of the house I grew up in (from the road). My camera phone doesn't have a zoom, but you can see the overgrown foliage and you can see all of the dump vehicles and the train car. You can even see the partial structure connecting the house and the shed together.

I got back in my car and drove a few hundred feet to the top of a hill to look at my grandparent's house. Someone else has lived in that house since before my parents moved away, so I was somewhat prepared to see it. Just like my old house, everything is overgrown. The bushes that surround the yard are so tall and going every which way that they look ridiculous. They always looked perfectly round when I was younger. Whoever lives there now has turned the land my grandparents used as a garden into a dump heap. There are weeds growing everywhere and miscellaneous items spread all over the yard and areas around it. Before I left to take this trip down Memory Lane, I had planned to walk around my grandparent's farm and the house and take a good look over things. However, when I arrived, I was so sad in my heart that I didn't want to see any more than what I was looking at already. I guess, one of my weaknesses is getting too emotionally attached, and I definitely am emotionally attached to my house and my grandparent's house.

This was my grandparent's house. My grandpa built it with his own two hands. It used to be a quaint white and red. Now it's just a dull brown. When they lived there, the bushes were pruned and you could see the lawn from this angle and you didn't have to try to peer through the bushes. The farm is back behind the house and from where I was, it pretty much looked the same. I have a lot of great memories of playing in the barn, feeding cows, chasing cats, climbing fences...most everything that comes with farm life. I hope to one day live somewhere that my children will have a lot of space to play and explore like I did.

As I write this entry, and when I was driving last weekend, this song kept running through my mind. I really love this song and it holds a special place in my heart. It's called "The House That Built Me", and it's sung by Miranda Lambert:

I know they say you can't go home againI just had to come back one last timeMa'am, I know you don't know me from AdamBut these hand prints on the front steps are mine

Up those stairs in that little back bedroomIs where I did my homework and I learned to play guitarAnd I bet you didn't know under that live oakMy favorite dog is buried in the yard

I thought if I could touch this place or feel itThis brokenness inside me might start healingOut here it's like I'm someone elseI thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in, I swear I'll leaveWon't take nothing but a memoryFrom the house that built me

I really think this trip was good for me. It brought me back down to reality, and it severed the really strong emotional attachment I have to my house and where I grew up, at least a little bit. For years after I graduated high school I promised myself that I would come back and buy my parent's house, or buy my grandparent's house, or buy a house next door and raise my children in the same place I grew up, but now I know that, realistically, that probably won't happen. And really, now that I think about it, I want my children to have a home that they can call their own, and not a place that mommy grew up in and knows everything about. These two homes will always be a good place to visit. Maybe one day when my children are older I can take them there and say, "This is where mommy grew up", but for now, I really want to make memories in the home we have. Yes, we only live in a small apartment right now, but "home is where the heart is" and I've never felt closer to that statement than I do right now. I have felt for the last 7 years that I left my heart in Rupert, but I know now that my heart always been where it should be, with my husband and children. And as long as we are together, we can make a home anywhere, out of anything.

Where, Oh Where Did My Summer Go?

Okay okay, I know that summer isn't gone YET, but August is always the beginning of the end, and a month from today the Fall semester will start. That always seems to be the case; the three and a half months of summer tend to go by in a flash, when they really don't go by any faster than the rest of the year. I am looking forward to the changes ahead, especially at work. I will be getting my own office to conference with students who are interested in our program. I have been waiting for my own space for a long time, and the plan is to have me in a new office by the end of August. Depending on where they move me to, though, I may not get to see my work buddies as much as I do now, which makes me kinda sad! Work will also pick up over the next month as I work on coordinating student orientation and the faculty retreat to Sun Valley. Fall semester is definitely not the busiest time of the year, but it is a change from the quietness of the summer.

Uriah has become quite the photographer, sneaking off with my camera and taking pictures. He will take a picture of anything and everything: walls, floors, appliances, whatever suits him at the time. The following pictures are from his view:

 Jordyn is one of his favorite subjects, as she likes to have her picture taken.

 He also loves to take pictures of himself. I love his blue eyes.

 The camera makes him happy

Here is Jordyn again. Looks like Uriah chased her behind a chair. 

Uriah lined up all of his cars and trains and took a picture of them. 

 I love this picture. I'm sure he did it on accident, but his one blue eye just stands out to me, and the picture isn't at all blurry. I think it's fantastic.

Jordyn and Uriah playing on the top bunk. 

 Jordyn showing Uriah something so he can take a picture of it.

 Uriah took this picture of Bonnie while she was sucking on her thumb.

A few weekends ago I went with my mom, daughters and nieces to my brother and sister-in-law's new house. We just spent two days hanging out and enjoying each other's company. It was hot, so we got into their pool in the back yard.

 Bonnie looks happy in this picture, but it really took her a long time to warm up to the cold water. Every time we dipped her toes in the water she would squeeze her feet up as close to her butt as she could. She does not like cold water!

Jordyn was shivering, but having a good time.

Last weekend, I took Friday off for our anniversary and we went with some friends to the local pool. Bonnie had never been to a real big pool, and it had been a really long time since any of us had gone swimming.

Here's Bonnie in her little-bit-too-big swimming suit.

Jordyn got a tinker bell suit from our neighbors and she loved it.

The sky was so beautiful that day, I just had to use it as a backdrop for a picture of my baby.



Uriah was getting a little bit of sun, but having a great time!

After we left the pool, Bonnie crashed. She was asleep before we even got out to the car. She hadn't eaten for 5 hours, and every minute at the pool I kept waiting for her to start screaming because she was hungry or cold, but she never made a peep the whole time, and she slept in the car seat until we got home. Swimming can really wear you out!

This week I started doing P90X. I had seen members of my family do it and seen how their bodies changed while doing it, so since I am trying to become healthier, I decided to give it a try. It is one of the few workout videos I have tried that doesn't make me feel silly and ridiculous doing it. I've almost finished the first week and I am sore, but happy!

Jordyn decided to do P90X with me one day. She is so much better at it than I am. Look at those legs!

 Starting P90X caused me to gain 2 pounds and I kinda freaked out. I thought that if I exercised, I would lose even more weight than I was losing just changing my diet! I questioned a lot of my friends and family, and they told me that I was gaining muscle mass and that I would probably gain a little more of that and soon I would start dropping the pounds like I want. I know muscle weight is a good thing, but I want to lose overall weight! I guess I need to really learn some patience.

My beautiful boy. This is exactly how he makes me feel, and all of my children! I look forward to their hugs and smiles every day when I get home from work. How grateful I am for my wonderful family. I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world!

For our anniversary, we took the kids to my mom and dad and we went out to lunch at Ruby Tuesday. The plan was to get a healthy meal, so I picked something off their mini menu that I was sure wouldn't be too high in calories. Well, I ordered the Baja Chicken Quesadilla. It was delicious, but when I got home to look up the calories, it was a whopping 1,600 calories. What the heck? That thing was about as big as my fist. So much for healthy food on a mini menu. Maybe next time I will stick to the salad bar! I had intended to make it a long lunch, just to sit and talk with each other and not worry about rushing, but we had eaten our meal and were done in 45 minutes, so we decided to get up and go window shopping. We still had 2.5 hours until the movie we were going to go see started, so Jared made a suggestion as to where to go window shopping and we went. He completely surprised me with an awesome anniversary gift, something I have been waiting for for a long time! I can't tell yet what it is though, because we are the only ones who know about it and I don't want to mention it until I can take a picture of it to put on here! Hopefully, by the next blog, you will get to see what I'm talking about :)



Stitches

Not too much has been going on lately, but it sure has been a nice, enjoyable summer so far. Uriah turned 4 last month. We didn't have a big party, but I got him a cake from Wal-Mart that he was thoroughly pleased with (Thomas the Train) and he got a LeapPad as a present from mom and dad (my feeble attempt to break him away from my iPad).

Bonnie started rolling over a few weeks ago and now it's like second nature. She doesn't stay on her back very long, but then when she is rolled over, she doesn't like to stay on her stomach very long either. She hit the 4 month mark and is going strong. She is a very healthy baby, very alert and aware, and the first of my children that hasn't had a cold or other illness in her first months of life. How grateful I am for her and her presence in our home!

This is my absolute favorite outfit of Bonnie's, and I will be sad to see her outgrow it. I would make her wear it all the time if I could. These pictures were taken about a month or so ago.

Something made her smile!

One of Bonnie's favorite things (and mommy's and daddy's) is her bouncer chair. She doesn't particularly care about it now, but when she was smaller it might as well have been her crib. Now she can roll out of it!

Getting ready for church, one child at a time. Uriah loves his baby sister so much!

Talking mommy's ear off.

I knew that this day would come some time. Uriah got his first stitches last week. I was at work and Jared called to tell me that I had to come home right away because he needed to take Uriah to the doctor. He said there was blood all over the house and Uriah was cut up really bad. I knew that my hubby has a tendency to overreact, so I left work and met him and Uriah at the Children's Clinic. It really wasn't that bad, although it did bleed quite a bit. He got two stitches (which he didn't like at all, and I'll never understand why they didn't numb him for them), but after it was done he was happy and perky again.

After following the blood trail from the living room into Uriah's room, we have come to the conclusion that this household gadget is the culprit for Uriah's cut. We finally got out of him that he "stepped on the fan" to get his owie, and as we looked closer we could see blood spots on the spirals of the fan. We don't think it was a fan blade, because the fan wasn't plugged in, but my theory is that he was standing on it and cut it on the edge of the spiral in the center of the fan. Anyway, he pulled one of the stitches out himself a few days ago and got the other one removed by the doctor yesterday. After they removed the stitch, they gave him 3 immunizations. Poor guy. He is a trooper though.

I forgot to add pictures of Uriah's birthday fun!

This is a giant checker board at Toy Town in Twin Falls.

Jordyn going down a bounce house slide at Hop 2 It.

Me and Bonnie going down the slide



Uriah's Bday cake from the WalMart bakery

One of Uriah's presents. Mom and dad got him the yellow and red angry bird, one of my friend's got him the black bird and another friend painted the cans for me. Uriah was exstatic!

Uriah having fun on a bounce house at Hop 2 It.

In other recent news, I am trying to lose some weight and I have started a blog to keep track of my calories and exercising. I have lost 8.5 pounds in 5 weeks, which is a little more than a pound a week. I am not currently trying to lose more than that because I know that losing weight is a long term goal and not a short term one. I am keeping myself at 1700 calories a day and doing exercise whenever I feel like it. I know I will probably peak at some point and have to start exercising regularly, but I am happy with how I am already changing my life. My ultimate goal is to get to 200 lbs, and I have 11 more to lose. I know I can do it!